When I arrived at the Mugler studio on a rainy Paris afternoon, three days out from the show, casting was underway downstairs while Cadwallader took a break to talk to Vogue Business. The atmosphere was calm until five minutes in, when the fire alarm went off, and the whole building was evacuated, including Casey, myself and the brand’s managing director, Adrian Corsin. Then, Corsin and I got stuck in a service lift on the way back into the building. “Never a dull moment at Mugler,” he joked.
Back in the studio, show prep was ticking along, fire alarms notwithstanding. The looks were “generally locked”, so the team was focused on casting, plus checking embroideries that came in late and perfecting some of the constructions, Cadwallader said. “We styled a little early, so we know what we’re doing, and now we’re just racing to the end of the clock, as we always do, before showtime on Thursday.”
Balancing “snackable buzz” with long-term strategy
Cadwallader decided on the SS25 concept backstage at the AW24 show, a spectacle in semi-darkness where the likes of Paloma Elsesser, Irina Shayk and Eva Herzigová tore down various curtains throughout, revealing new stage areas in plumes of smoke. That followed the SS24 show, where industrial fans sent veils and trains airbourne down the length of the runway, with models including Paris Hilton and Angela Bassett (The SS24 show preparation was featured in Inside the Dream: Mugler, a new documentary on the house that was released on Thursday).
For Thursday’s show, Mugler gained access to the venue the night before, so rehearsals took place on Thursday afternoon, two hours before doors opened. Eric Von Christison showed individual models how to pose and turn in front of the camera as Cadwallader and Corsin looked on. Von Christison also worked with Mugler on the AW24 curtain show, with complex performances and special effects. Sometimes simple movements are harder to get right with no distractions, he explained, so the pressure isn’t totally off despite the stripped-back format this season.
“It’s different this season, with all the theatricality taken away,” the designer said. “It’s a full strip down to the elements. It felt really right to me. It also felt really nice, with it being the 50-year anniversary of the house, to have a sort of fresh start.”
